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December 25th, 2007

Kureha must wear some strong bindings.

Impressions:

Seriously, if that’s how large her chest is, that shrine maiden outfit must be covering up a mess of stuff taping her chest down. She’s huge. Everything pretty much happened as expected, although I guess Kureha really was dead and not just severely maimed. The difference is pretty meaningless though since Deus Ex Anzelot brought her back to life and sent her to go be the final cheerleader that Elis needed to snap out of it. Then big old combination surfing attack to finish off good old Kirihito. Stupid Nightmare was around way too much in this episode too. DREAM. I don’t really have too much else to say other than continued praise for Bell and lament at how little they used her. Poor girl deserves her own spinoff. She can fight Ninomiya’s Hosaka. I don’t even know which one I’d bet on.

Final thoughts at the end.

Akari flies into the wreckage. Hiiragi is holding Kureha in the debris of her shrine. She’s not breathing. Hiiragi tells Akari to take Kureha. Hiiragi picks up his sword and declares that he needs to save Elis.

Shaimaal hovers with Kirihito over the city. Anzelot and the rest watch helplessly. They get a report that a Wizard has appeared and is approaching. It’s Hiiragi, charging straight at Shaimaal.

He slashes at a nearby tower’s supports a few times and then knocks the whole thing into the air. He leaps on it and climbs it upwards, then jumps onto Shaimaal. Kirihito floats down to stop him. He tells Hiiragi that Elis is gone forever. She wasn’t even human to begin with.

Hiiragi refuses that and says that Elis was one of their companions. Kirihito tells him that the transformation happened because Elis gave up on them and fell into despair. He wonders what the nickname Anzelot had for him was again…

He looks away for a moment, pretending to think, and Hiiragi attacks. Kirihito’s barrier protects him, and then Kirihito smirks and blasts Hiiragi away. He snidely remarks that Hiiragi’s the Falling Man as Hiiragi tumbles to the ground below.

Kirihito pats ‘Elis’ and leaves finishing off Hiiragi to her.

Anzelot grits her teeth and comes to a decision. She orders her troops to immediately protect Hiiragi.

Just before Shaimaal fires, a barrier appears and protects him. Anzelot understands it all now and orders a wide barrier encasing Gazer and Shaimaal which will transport them away. As the barrier comes down, Kirihito starts getting pissed.

Those two and a huge chunk of the city get dropped in an ocean near Anzelot’s castle out in ‘space,’ or wherever the hell they are. Kirihito looks at the projection of Anzelot and tries to convince her that his vision of protecting the world is the correct one. He IS Gazer after all.

Anzelot tells him that this world is what she will protect, even from him. Kirihito thinks it a pity, and orders Shaimaal to attack. The projection disappears and is replaced by an ice wall. The blast rocks the wall and blows out a few windows in her castle, but it otherwise survives. Kirihito says that it’s only a matter of time.

Anzelot orders her troops that the enemy is Gazer. Bell laughs and then excuses herself.

Anzelot’s Wizards attack Kirihito, but he just summons a massive lightning storm and incinerates them all. Hiiragi tries to dodge it, but is thrown off the chunk of city.

An arm reaches out and catches him… Bell Zephyr. She tells him not to misunderstand, but this time, they’re together. She tosses him a rocket broom and he flies off.

Kirihito wonders what the problem is with Shaimaal. This is taking too long. He thinks that Elis might be hanging on somewhere inside. He dodges to the side as Bell floats up behind him. The two trade insults and she declares that the world is her’s, she won’t let him destroy it. She attacks, but Kirihito blocks it and calls her an idiot for going up against a god.

Hiiragi flies alongside Shaimaal, looking for a way in. Elis remains unconscious in the ivy inside.

Anzelot wonders aloud on how to defeat Shaimaal. If Shaimaal was sleeping dormant inside Elis, then Elis might be sleeping dormant inside Shaimaal. Nightmare walks in (complete with DREAM).

Bell and Kirihito keep fighting, but she can’t break through his defenses either.

Hiiragi remembers how he couldn’t get through Kirihito’s defenses either as he tries to get in to go after Elis. Nightmare flies up to him (DREAM) and tells him that they’ll go to the world of its dreams. He starts casting a spell.

Kirihito sees them and gets ready to interfere, but Bell gets in the way. She pins him down by casting "Heavenly World Unlimited" (??). It blasts into Kirihito and overwhelms him, but his barrier still protects him from any physical harm.

Nightmare finishes casting his spell and the two enter Shaimaal’s dream world.

The fall into the library again, and race through the land of confections. Nightmare tells Hiiragi to wait think about the last time they were here. They remember back to when Kirihito pointed them away from a direction, but then he went on ahead. They come to the conclusion that there’s something important there and run up.

They come to the door. Nightmare tells Hiiragi to prepare himself because Nightmare can’t go in. Hiiragi tells him that he promised to protect Elis, so can’t back down now. Hiiragi opens the door and walks inside.

Inside, the world is black, white and distorted. A crimson eye suddenly opens and a massive dragon appears, bathed in vermillion light. Hiiragi faces it and attacks, cutting it away. The light fades to the chamber of ivy.

Elis stirs and wakes up. Hiiragi calls out to her, but she thinks it’s just her imagination and chokes back the tears. She repeats that it was her fault that Kureha died. It’s better for them to see her as the monster, Shaimaal.

Outisde, Shaimaal unleashes a huge blast that rocks Anzelot’s castle. Her minion reports to her that Kureha’s body has been brought to them. Anzelot recoils in surprise.

Anzelot walks to the room where Kureha is laid on a slab with Akari watching over her. Anzelot asks for Kureha to forgive her. She’ll take the blame for forcing her to fight her companions. Now, she’ll make amends. The world needs her power, and the power of Kureha as well.

She holds her arm out above Kureha and wings of light sprout from her back. The energy pours into Kureha as Anzelot struggles. A seal comes out of Kureha and blasts Anzelot away. The seal fades back into Kureha. Lion is amused and surprised that Anzelot would use her power and endanger her own life like this.

Anzelot bluntly tells her that it’s because of her that the situation is like this and goes back to Kureha.

One of Shaimaal’s attacks blasts directly through the castle.

Lion holds her hand above Kureha and adds her energy as well. Their enemy is the same after all. The two energies comine, and the seal reappears, but then fades. Lion and Anzelot stumble backwards.

Kureha’s heart begins to beat.

She opens her eyes, mumbling about Hiiragi and Elis. Anzelot rushes to her. She asks Anzelot where Hiiragi and Elis are. Lion tells her that they’re waiting for her heart to be added to their’s.

Hiiragi continues slashing through the ivy, trying to get to Elis. She yells at him to stay away. Hiiragi steps up and slashes through the ivy binding her. She falls into his arms.

He tells her that they’re friends who will laugh together, cry together, fight together, etc. She starts crying into her shoulder.

Kureha’s voice rings out from the darkness. They look up and see Akari and Kureha riding towards them on the Gunner’s Broom. Kureha tells Elis not to be so scared.

Kirihito tries to blast them out of the sky, but Akari dodges and shoots at him. Bell takes over the attack again, letting them approach Shaimaal. Elis gasps and keeps crying. Everybody tells Elis that it’s time to go home. Hiiragi takes her by the shoulders and says that they have to have a party for her birthday. She happily smiles.

The red door changes and opens, bathed in blue light. Nightmare remarks that the demon called Shiho Elis is finished.

Shaimaal convulses, and then the cocoon opens and a giant long-haired (and naked) Elis rises from it. Kirihito looks impassively at it.

Anzelot wants them all to come home together.

Shaimaal fades into Hiiragi and Elis’ shields, now tinged with blue light instead of red. Kirihito isn’t impressed. He tells them that Elis could revert if she despairs again. Hiiragi lets Kirihito know that’s not going to happen.

Kirihito smirks evilly at them. Hiiragi mentally steels himself to battle a god. Kirihito attacks, but Elis blocks it with her shields. She tells Hiiragi that she’ll fight beside him. The world echoes in her eyes and all the gems glow with their codewords, ending on "Hope." They combine together to fom the sword. Hiiragi and Elis ride it straight at Kirihito.

His barrier protects him and starts to sheer off the shields. They suddenly remember when Kirihito was injured in Shaimaal’s attack in the past and when Elis slapped him. They realize that Shaimaal’s light is the thing that can defeat Gazer.

The sword pushes into Kirihito’s barrier as all the gems shatter. His barrier drops as the shields dissolve and the powers of the gods null eachother. Hiiragi powers up his sword and attacks. Kirihito pulls his little energy dagger trick. The two collide.

Kirihito grins, but he missed and Hiiragi’s sword is through his chest. "That’s why I’ve hated you since I laid eyes on you, Hiiragi," Kirihito tells Hiiragi. Kirihito bids goodbye to Elis and then looks at the world one last time as he fades away.

Elis says goodbye to her ‘uncle’ too.

Lion looks at the book, saying this destiny too. Bell bids goodbye to Anzelot and the two teleport away.

Nightmare drags Hiiragi and the others back to Anzelot, but she just smiles, demands a status report and then strides inside.

The credits roll in the spring time. Hiiragi manages to graduate. Everybody is surprised, especially because Hiiragi isn’t even there. He comes running up and is overjoyed that he graduated.

Later, he’s hanging out under the sakura trees. Kureha comes running up, apologizing for being late. She considers it a real miracle that he managed to get a diploma. Akari and her ferret come up too. He tells her that she can’t call him the ‘Falling Man’ anymore.

Elis is the last to join the party, complete in her new school uniform. She congratulates them on graduating and then they start arguing about where to go get celebration food. Elis happily smiles at them. Akari gets a few digs in at Hiiragi.

Anzelot’s voice calls out to Hiiragi from a copter above. She congratulates him, however, she’s got a request for him that he can respond "hai or yes." He starts running in an attempt to escape, but the copter opens up and a device beams him upward. Akari calls him the "Rising Man."

As the copter flies off, Hiiragi’s bag and diploma fall into Elis’ arms. She happily hugs it, thinking about him and how they’ll be together.

Final Thoughts:

Night Wizard’s animation peaked in the first episode, but luckily, everything else was just plain fun enough for me to not really care. It certainly wasn’t unique in any way really, but it excelled by having probably the most charismatic group of characters of any show this season. Aside from the weekly throwaway villains, the weakest link was Nightmare, and he was barely even in the show. Everybody else was energetic, upbeat, and all for saving the world. Granted, Kureha probably didn’t have it in her to even save a dolphin from a tuna net, but at least she was happy about it and the show never turned existential or tried to sell itself as some kind of emotionally deep experience. There’s something to be said for shallow and fun too.

Night Wizard certainly won’t go down in the annals of anime history as anything significant, but it was a fun ride the whole time with just enough mysteries and foreshadowing to keep the plot from being a joke. I’d have liked a liiiiitle more romance between Hiiragi and any of the girls, but I think if they started getting clingy and emotional over him, then that would have ruined a lot of the show’s atmosphere which made it so easy to watch. Now I need to just sacrifice a goat to get that Bell Zephyr spinoff.

5 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

In truth, I actually expected the ending to be pretty inconclusive in regards to those to DESPITE GIVING US EVEN MORE HINTAGE!!!!! Blah.

Anyway. Aside from that, it was a nice ending to go with a nice series. :) I’m praying for a second season, although I don’t think one is very likely at the moment. Maybe if the PS2 game being released in February does good enough….

I think this series and Myself; Yourself have the best ending out of this season of anime. I hope Kimikiss Pure Rouge would have a decent if not good ending as well. By the way, what anime are you going to write next season.